Isn't it neat?
by sunaprincess7
Summary: Lily Evans has been playing Ariel the mermaid at Disney World Orlando for six months. She's about to meet her new Prince Eric. Jily AU, Disney AU.


Hi everyone,

Another fic here - I know the James/Lily - Eric/Ariel thing has been done before - this is my take on it. There is literally very little plot here but for some reason, I couldn't write anything until I wrote this.

Hope you all enjoy!

Please review :)

SP7

* * *

"Does anyone have any primer?" Lily yelled to the dressing room behind her, "I'm out of my FX."

"Here," Mary yelled back amongst the throng of girls, chucking Lily her Smashbox version over the heads of Emmeline and Dorcas who both ducked.

"This'll work?" Lily confirmed doubtfully, knowing that she didn't really have any other option as she squirted the clear gel into her palm.

"Nothing is going to work in this heat, Lil," Mary replied, now slathering her face with foundation. "But it'll stay on for at least 6 hours. Then you might need to reapply."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, I hate this fucking dress," Marlene, who was by far the most ready of any of them, moaned as she tugged the bright yellow taffeta monstrosity up around her hips.

"Hey, at least yours hasn't got sleeves," Dorcas retorted, from next to Lily, still in the process of pinning an auburn wig with pigtails onto her head.

"Oh please, you practically begged McGonagall to give you Anna!" Marlene replied, now pulling the dress up around her arms.

"It was winter then!" Dorcas said miserably, grabbing a matte mauve lipstick out of her makeup bag.

"Can we all just be happy that none of us is Minnie?" Mary inserted, in between violently attacking her face with a beauty blender.

The group of girls murmured in approval.

"Technically, you should be the happiest out of everyone, Lil," Emmeline said, running a brush through her black wig as she puffed up the bun. "Sometimes they let you go out in a bikini."

"Hey, none of you have ever worn that tail," Lily replied, as she leaned into the mirror to draw on her eyebrows. "It's heavy as hell. It might be worse than the dress. And they haven't let me wear it in ages."

"I think they figured out you were making all the dads a little too happy in that purple excuse for a bra," Mary said lowly, causing their whole dressing room to laugh.

"Men are such trash," Emmeline added.

"Speaking of trash, aren't you meeting your new Eric today?" Marlene asked as she pulled white elbow gloves up over her arms.

"Later on tonight," Lily said, "after the parade. And if he's anything like the previous one, I think I might quit."

Lily's previous Eric had been the epitome of trash and was exactly who Marlene was referring to when she'd asked the question. Dave, or Prince Fuckboy as he was better known to the group, had spent his entire 6 months with the cast showing up late, being rude and, worst of all, sleeping his way through the Princess lineup.

After sleeping with Marlene, he'd made his way around Elsa, Tinkerbell and Jasmine, which was the unfortunate reason Bertha, Florence and Emma no longer sat with the rest of the girls. That drama had continued for at least a month until Prince Fuckboy realised everyone hated him and had quit.

"Apparently he's a friend of Hook's," Dorcas told them.

"Hook?" Emmeline, who was the most recent addition to the cast, asked. "I don't think I've met him."

"Sirius Black," Dorcas replied, as Lily smiled to herself, knowing that Dorcas's usual rant about Sirius was coming. "And you don't want to meet him. He's totally method," she continued, placing an unusual amount of disdain on the word method, "and speaks in a ridiculous English accent the entire time he's here, even on breaks, and challenges everyone to duels all day. Fucking idiot."

Lily couldn't help but giggle. She was actually rather fond of Sirius's approach to his work and suspected it had nothing to do with his devotion to acting but rather because he loved pretending to be a pirate all day.

"He is a fucking idiot and you know it," Dorcas said to Lily when she saw her laughing.

"Well, at least he's not another Prince Fuckboy," Lily said, adding a slick of bright red lipstick before spritzing her whole face with setting spray. "And you have to admit, he's a very good Hook."

"As long as he hasn't brought us another Dave to be Eric, we'll be best friends," Marlene smiled grimly. "How the hell am I the only one ready?" She asked forcefully, gloved hands on her hips.

"Because you don't have to colour in your eyebrows to match your wig," Lily replied, grabbing her long, curly ginger hair and twisting it onto her head.

"I can't believe they still haven't asked you to be Merida yet," Mary observed, now pulling on Tiana's light green velvet dress.

"Yeah, well in the nineties mermaids existed but not actual ginger people, apparently," Lily said as she positioned the long red wig onto her head with ease. "That mermaid must've had some amazing hair dye down in Atlantis."

"Hey, black people didn't exist until 2010 apparently," Mary added, fixing her own wig on. "And now there's one black princess, there'll obviously never be another one ever again."

"Obviously," Emmeline agreed, rolling her eyes. "Right, time to tie on this fucking awful sash," she said before standing and moving to the costume rail, leaving Dorcas and Lily sitting at the mirrors.

"I'm still waiting on the animated world to admit lesbians exist," Dorcas said to Lily with a wry shrug. "And don't tell the boss, but I play everyday like I'm in love with Emma," she winked, referring to their cast mate who played Jasmine.

"Amazing," Lily laughed, looking around the dressing table for her aqua headpiece. "Does Emma know this?"

"Oh, she knows I think she's hot as hell."

Finished with her makeup and hair, Lily stood up to go and find her human dress, which was an unsightly aquamarine colour to match her headpiece.

"Are they ever going to let you back in the tail?" Dorcas asked, moving with Lily to grab her purple cape.

"They're still working on the Grotto since the break-in," Lily said, shuffling into her dress. "I think it'll be open again in a few weeks."

When she had first started at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Lily's main role had been to sit in Ariel's grotto and do meet and greets. She had her own float in the daily parade and occasionally appeared as a human walking around the park (when she was told to) or at Cinderella's restaurant, but for the most part, wearing the tail in the grotto was her main duty. Then, around a month ago, some boys had broken in to the park, and wrecked her grotto, as well as a number of other attractions. Lily had been in human form ever since, which was killing her, because Ariel's human dress was puffy, heavy and sweltering in the Orlando heat.

Not that she complained too much. She loved being Ariel and was delighted to be cast as her when she'd first started six months ago. A small part of Lily lived in perpetual fear of being recast. Which was ridiculous because it would definitely happen at some point and they were all warned not to get too attached to any particular character.

Lily had done her best to adhere to this warning but she'd adored Ariel as a child and as she'd gotten older, Ariel had remained her favourite Disney princess. And judging by the response she got from the little kids who came to the park, Ariel was still a very popular princess, even eighteen years after she'd first appeared in animated form.

In truth, Lily had loved every minute of working at Disney. The only bad time had been the appearance of Dave.

"I know I hate this dress," Lily said quietly to Dorcas, "but I can live with it. I'm not sure I could live with another Dave."

"Look, I know Black is an idiot, but I doubt he's friends with jerks," Dorcas reassured her pragmatically, checking her appearance in the mirror. "Are you nervous about meeting him? Don't be nervous."

"Well you spend a lot of time with your prince," Lily observed, fixing the wig down over her dress. "And the kids freak out when they see you together so obviously McGonagall is always sending you out together. It'd be nice to be paired with someone you can stand. I mean, you get on with Dirk, right?"

"Yeah," Dorcas responded, "I don't think he knows I'm gay cause he's always flirting with me, but we get on fine."

"Poor Dirk."

"I've seen his sister on Facebook, she's cute" Dorcas said with a grin. "Maybe he'll introduce us."

"Girls!" They heard McGonagall call from the hallway, "it's 8.55"

"Coming!" Lily called back, jumping up and down a few times to settle her skirt.

"Right," Dorcas said with a swish of her cloak, "Time to be asked if I want to build a snowman ten thousand times."

Letting her voice drift higher and adding in her signature Ariel warble, Lily followed Dorcas out of the dressing room, "you're such a guppy, Anna," she replied, saying goodbye to Lily Evans as she transformed into the little mermaid just as she reached the bright sunshine of the park.

* * *

"I am fucking exhausted," Marlene breathed, stripping off her gloves as they all trailed into the dressing room at 10pm that night. "And I hate teenaged boys."

"Yeah, I saw some guys bothering you," Mary replied, throwing herself down into her dressing room chair.

"Trying to get me to break character. Assholes. They were trying to film the whole thing and put it on Instagram," Marlene spat.

"What were they doing?"

"Oh, the usual shit. Calling me a furry lover. I ignored them."

"Good for you," Lily said, inwardly wondering how soon she could get the metric tonne of foundation she had on off her face.

"At least you didn't get dole whip spilled all over you," Emmeline moaned, already taking off Mulan's dress. "Costume are going to kill me. This is the fourth time in two weeks I've needed a new dress."

"Ariel!" Sounded McGonagall's voice from outside.

"I think she means me," Lily whispered to them all with a wink as she slipped off her chair. Wincing as her weary feet touched the floor, Lily made her way to the hall.

When she entered the hallway, Lily saw McGonagall standing with her cherished clipboard and right beside her, a man who was undoubtedly Prince Eric.

All of the guys who played Princes at the park were good looking but Lily felt her stomach clench as she took in her new work husband. She could see why they had cast him as Eric. His black hair was thick and windswept and curled in at the edges of his lightly tanned skin. There was no way he'd be wearing a wig. As his eyes fell on her, he greeted her with a show stopping smile, and Lily couldn't help but notice his strong jaw and gorgeous hazel eyes.

"James, this is Lily, or Ariel to you," McGonagall said to the boy, now scribbling on the board. James opened his mouth to say something but their boss got there first, "you can smile, dance, hold hands whilst still and give her a two second hug," she continued, briskly ticking the board as she listed each item, "but no kissing. At all. Ever."

"Okay," James nodded steadily, looking at McGonagall with slight apprehension.

"Make sure he doesn't get lost," she said to Lily abruptly before striding away.

"Is she always that scary?" He whispered, leaning into Lily as they both watched Minerva leave.

"I'm afraid so," Lily told him with a weak smile, "she's in charge of rules and makes sure we all follow them."

"And we're married, right?"

"Yes," Lily nodded, trying not to stare at him too much.

"Wow. Can't even kiss my wife. What a bummer," James said with a deep sigh, causing Lily to laugh.

"Disney is strictly a PG place," she said, "but waltzing is good fun. The kids love it."

"They showed me during training," James replied. "It took me a while to get it but I don't think I'll embarrass you."

Lily laughed again as she leaned against the wall, "I'm a walking, talking fish woman. I doubt you are going to be what embarrasses me," she smiled, trying not to blush when his eyes did a quick sweep of her outfit. "So, did McGonagall show you around?"

"I came down for the parade," he responded, pushing his hands into his jeans as Lily noticed his sinewy tanned arms. He was going to look good in Eric's white shirt. "It was great. You were great."

"Thanks," she said, "it's pretty easy without Eric to be honest. I just sit there and smile and wave."

"And with Eric?"

"Well, that's when the hugging and the dancing and the hand-holding comes in," Lily continued, giving him a little grin. "But it's a 30 minute parade so trying to keep that going is difficult."

"Especially when you hate your Eric, right?"

Lily blanched a little as James smiled guilty at her, "Sirius told me about the guy I'm replacing."

"Yeah, well, he was a jackass," Lily admitted, swishing her dress about a little. "And what's worse, he made it really awkward for everyone here. We were all glad when he left."

"Okay, well I promise to be absolutely nothing like him and then you won't mind dancing with me for half an hour," he suggested, his eyes twinkling as Lily's stomach jumped again.

"Deal," she agreed, hoping to sound as normal as possible. "So, when do you start?"

"Next week," James told her happily, "they're just sorting my contacts and then I'm good to go."

"Cool," Lily said, "well, it was really nice meeting you. I'm going to go take off this powder puff before I faint," she closed, giving him another smile before she turned towards the dressing room door.

"Wait," James called, stalling her in her step.

"Yeah?"

"You're my Princess, right?" Lily laughed lightly as James blushed and corrected himself, "I mean, you're who I'll be working with? Going forward?"

"Yeah," She replied, hearing a little shyness creep into her voice, "as long as I don't get recast, I'm your Princess."

* * *

James, as it turned out, was an absolute dream to work with.

On Monday morning, he was there waiting for her as soon as she stepped out of the dressing room. In his white flowing shirt, red cumber-band, turned up trousers, boots and blue contacts, he looked both exactly like Eric and unreasonably hot.

They spent the whole day together and as predicted, all the kids adored both of them together. They both signed hundreds of autographs and took hundreds of photos and selfies, and when the parade started at nine o'clock, they had their first dance.

It wasn't without a hitch, as they both stepped on each other's toes several times but as long as their smiles stayed on, no one in the audience noticed.

"So, how'd I do?" James asked her, as they moved backstage and walked towards her dressing room.

"Really good," Lily said a little breathlessly, noticing that they were still walking arm in arm, as though they were out in public.

"Sorry about the feet," he whispered into her ear as they passed a stream of characters all hurrying to their dressing rooms.

"That's okay," she giggled, giving his arm a squeeze, "I stepped on your toes too."

"Yeah but I'm a lot heavier than you are!"

"We'll get better with practice," Lily told him. "Oh and one other thing, next time a kid asks you about Sebastian or Flounder, technically you never met them, so next time just say they're 'friends of Ariel'."

"Right," James nodded, "and Sebastian is the lobster, yeah?"

Lily stopped walking and her hand fell away from his arm, "crab," she corrected bluntly. "Sebastian is a crab."

"Sure," he smiled uneasily, letting his hands fall to his side. "A crab."

Feeling very suspicious, Lily eyed James closely.

"They did teach you about Sebastian during training?"

"Yeah, they did, it's just…"

"It's just what?" She asked, feeling her eyes narrow.

"Well, it's kind of hard to remember when…" he trailed off, not really looking at her.

"When?" Lily prompted.

"When you haven't really seen what he looks like," James finally said lowly, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"What?" She yelped, so loudly that Donald Duck and Goofy stopped to eye the two of them before moving on. "You haven't seen _The Little Mermaid_? James, that's like day one!"

"It was day five," he disagreed weakly, obviously nervous due to her reaction. "I was ill so they said I could just watch it at home."

"And?"

"And…I sort of…never did," he admitted with a small shrug as Lily cursed him for being so attractive. It would be so much easier to be annoyed with him if she could stop staring at his gorgeous face.

"James, if McGonagall finds out you've never seen it, she will lose it!" Lily warned him, not wanting to picture the monumental explosion that would occur if that happened. What was worse: he'd probably get fired and then they'd need another new Eric and Lily couldn't take the suspense of waiting to meet another new Prince. Plus, she was sort of growing fond of this one.

"Yeah, I got that impression when I met her."

"I mean, you don't even know how we met!" She persisted, shoving his shoulder lightly.

"I'm guessing in the sea?" He joked feebly, as Lily rolled her eyes.

"Unacceptable," Lily said, folding her arms. "I am not letting you get fired over this."

"Would you miss me, Princess?" James grinned, eyes sparkling.

"If you get fired they might bring Dave back," Lily observed grimly, ignoring the flutter in her stomach that appeared when he obviously flirted with her, "and then I'd have to quit."

"Okay, I will watch the movie…" James appeased her, shaking his head.

"Oh, you will watch that movie," Lily ground out, stepping closer to him. "My number is on the staff call sheet. Text me your address. Next Sunday, I'm coming over and by the end of the day you will know the names, hair and fin colours of all my six sisters!"

* * *

Of course, Lily hadn't expected the teasing she ended up receiving from her fellow Princesses when she told them her weekend plans, which was probably quite naïve.

"You're dating your Prince," Marlene had giggled, Friday evening as they all de-wigged.

"I am not," Lily protested ignoring their sceptical smirks. "I'm saving his job. And my sanity. Also, McGonagall changed the rules after Dave. No dating Princes! Remember?"

"Please," Emmeline interjected dryly, "as if you haven't noticed how hot he is."

"Everyone has," Mary said, saving Lily the trouble of dodging the question. "Did you see Bertha all over him in the canteen this afternoon?" She asked the group, as Lily felt her stomach twist unpleasantly. She hadn't noticed that, being too preoccupied with the book she usually read at lunch.

"Yup," Dorcas stated blithely, pulling off her wig to reveal flowing blonde hair with a fuchsia streak through it. "If he's not careful, this is going to turn out to be another Prince Fuckboy sitch."

"James is not Dave," Lily inserted forcefully, taking off Ariel's necklace and throwing it onto the counter. "He's not going to behave like that."

Embarrassed as she saw the girls exchanging knowing looks due to her outburst, Lily fixed an unconvincing smile onto her face. "He knows all about Dave and the drama and he's aware of how horrible that all was," she said calmly, "I doubt he'll put us all through that again."

Sensing an end to the conversation, Lily continued to unpin her wig, enjoying the wonderful feeling of removing the pins from her head. She undressed quickly and changed into her street uniform, before making her way to the door, saying goodbye to them all as she went.

"Well, we're all here arguing over him," she heard Emmeline say lowly to Marlene as she exited, "it sure feels like another Fuckboy situation."

* * *

Emmeline's words from Friday night were still ringing in her ears as she walked to James's apartment on Sunday afternoon. And of course, now she knew about Bertha, she had watched her all day Saturday doing the best she could to get James's attention.

It shouldn't have annoyed Lily and it was ridiculous that she felt in any way possessive of James. But watching Bertha flirt, smile and laugh her way through lunch with him stoked an ugly feeling in Lily that she soon recognised as jealousy.

Knowing that she needed to quell this before she herself was the instigator of drama, Lily resolved not to admire James anymore. In fact, as she crossed the street to the grey wooded building that she thought was where he lived, Lily decided that she would not in any way fancy James and Bertha could have him if she liked.

Climbing the stairs and ringing the bell, Lily was happy in her determination…until James opened the door.

He was wearing glasses.

Fuck.

He had never worn glasses before. A bit like every other piece of clothing he decided to wear, the glasses looked unfairly good on him. She didn't know what it was about them, but they finished his face beautifully – just in the way that she could picture taking them off to get a better look at his eyes. Maybe during a time when they were standing closer together. With as much energy as she could muster, Lily pushed this thought out of her head. She wasn't allowed to date her cast mate.

Lily was about to apologise for standing awkwardly in silence in his doorway when she noticed that James seemed to be experiencing the same vocal block too, his eyes fixed on her.

"What?" She asked nervously, knowing that this wasn't the most polite or graceful way to break the silence but she was desperate so it would have to do.

James swallowed, "oh, um…it's nothing…it's just…"

"Just?"

"Eh, your hair…and your, um…eyes," he proceeded brokenly, his right hand slipping into his hair as Lily wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through it, "I've never seen you without…"

He trailed off again, his eyes doing another sweep of her face as Lily reminded herself to breathe.

"I can't believe they make you wear a wig and contacts," he finally managed after another swallow.

"Well, you know," Lily shrugged, feeling her cheeks turn red, "I have to look like her," she said, holding up the DVD box with Ariel on the front. "Ready for your homework?"

With a jerky smile, James brought her into his flat, closing the door after her.

"You know, I had to borrow a DVD player from my mom," James said as he followed her into the living room.

"Well that's your fault for getting rid of an essential piece of technology," Lily scolded him, dropping her bag beside the couch before sitting down.

"Pfft," James snorted, taking the DVD off her, "we definitely could've just streamed it."

"My fair merlady," Lily heard a booming voice echo from behind her, "welcome to our most humble abode."

"Sirius," Lily grinned, hoping off the couch and running around to greet him, as Sirius performed a deep bow before grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it.

"Captain Hook, Princess," Sirius corrected politely in his flawless English accent.

"We spent an hour deciding if he could speak to you normally," James said from behind them, not sounding impressed.

"You should not complain," Sirius responded with an edge to his voice, "remember, it was I who provided the popped corn."

"Are you joining us, Captain?" Lily asked.

"Alas, no," Sirius replied, as James let out a 'thank god' over their shoulders. "I am expecting a duel with that wretched boy Pan this week and so must practice my fencing."

"He's going to the gym," James translated as Lily heard the opening tones of the movie echo from the tv.

"Adieu, my dear," Sirius called as he strode out of the apartment, gym bag in hand.

"I couldn't live without him, but if I could, I would've killed him by now," James said without prompting as Lily joined him on the couch.

"Shhhhh," Lily hissed, poking him in the elbow, as the Disney castle appeared on the screen. "I can promise you there will be a quiz after this."

James surprised Lily by being fairly quiet throughout the opening scenes of the movie, save for the occasional comment: "her father's a dick,"… "he definitely looks like a lobster," and various other observations which made her laugh.

"He's a crab and you best remember that," she warned.

"As if it matters…"

"Shhhh," she quieted him again, knowing what was coming as Ariel swam towards the surface and fireworks exploded from the ship. "Oh my god," she breathed as Eric came into view, his dog Max bounding around the deck. "This is the best part of the movie."

"You think he's attractive?" James asked, sounding unimpressed and she could tell he was watching her.

"Eh…yeah, I'm not blind," Lily answered emphatically

"I suppose he's alright…for a cartoon," James retorted and she couldn't help but smile at his miffed tone.

"Disney have a really random record of drawing ridiculously hot people," she told him, still enjoying the view of Eric. "Besides, you should take it as a compliment," she added thoughtlessly, cringing when she realised what she had said.

"Oh, so, because you think he's hot that must mean you think I am?" James replied, sounding remarkably happier as he turned his whole body to her.

Trying to regain her composure, Lily shrugged, "Eric is generally regarded as one of the better looking Disney Princes…by everyone."

With a brief grin, James felt silent and turned back to the movie.

"He's clearly a shit sailor if his ship is sinking."

"He's a Prince and there was a storm…what do you want him to do?"

They watched in silence until the moment when Ariel had rescued Eric and was trying to revive him on the shore. As she sang to him, Lily unconsciously started to sing along quietly, as she had been doing ever since she had first watched the movie.

To her left, she heard a soft noise which broke her out of her daydream.

"Sorry," she said, looking over to James to see him watching her again. "Old habit."

"Don't be," he replied kindly, a crooked smile about his mouth, "you can sing."

"Thanks," she said awkwardly, not really knowing what to say.

"Why don't you sing at work?"

"We're not allowed," Lily advised, "we're specifically told not to sing. Did you pay attention at all during training?"

With a guilty shrug, James replied, "I still don't get why you can't sing."

"I guess they want the kids to hear the songs the way they remember them," she went on, "which I understand. I know I play her but Jodi Benson will always be Ariel to me."

"Oh, she's going to do something stupid to be with the stupid hot Prince, isn't she?" James winced now watching the movie again.

"Can you blame her?"

The movie continued and James revelled in his correct prediction, yelling loudly at Ariel not to sign Ursula's contract much to Lily's amusement.

"There is no way in hell that would be legally binding!"

Now feeling a bit bolder, Lily sang her way through the rest of the songs with James laughing along until they both fell quiet at 'Kiss the Girl".

"Noooooo!" James howled when Flotsam and Jetsam overturned the boat Eric and Ariel were sitting in. "Fuck those eels!"

Nearly crying with laughter, Lily patted him on the arm, "I hate those things," she consoled.

"I have never been so annoyed," he announced, glaring at the television screen. "Why didn't they just kiss?!"

"We're only just half way through the movie, they couldn't kiss now."

James sat and pouted unhappily as the movie went on, only making another noise when Vanessa – Ursula's human alter ego – appeared, "hello," he let out lowly, his eyebrows dancing, as she slinked onto the screen.

"Hey!" Lily cried, feeling an unwarranted level of outrage. "Don't you 'hello' her! She's evil! She's trying to distract you from Ariel. You can't find her attractive!"

"Oh, so you can think cartoon Eric is hot but I can't think evil Ariel is?"

"Eric is hot but he's not evil! If Eric had an evil twin, I wouldn't be 'hello-ing' all over him!"

"Look, you can't deny she's good looking," James placated her, gesturing to Vanessa on the screen as Lily harrumphed, "but will it make you feel better if I say she's not a patch on Ariel?"

"All I am asking is that you show a little loyalty to your wife," Lily said evenly. "That witch has her voice!"

"I cannot believe we are arguing over which cartoon is hotter."

"Well, you work at Disney now, Potter. Get used to it."

Again, they fell silent as the movie played on and they watched as Ursula was discovered, defeated and Eric and Ariel married in their happily ever after.

"You know, you're right. I didn't like Vanessa so much by the end," James conceded lowly, stretching out now that the film was over.

"Told you," Lily gloated. "And at least now, if McGonagall asks, you can honestly say you've watched it."

"Very true," he agreed, "and I now also know the names of all assorted sentient fish and crustaceans. Thanks for taking the time to make sure I don't get fired," he smiled earnestly.

"You're welcome," she replied, hoping to sound normal as her heart started to thud against her chest.

"Did you do this with Dave?" He asked, fixing her with a look that wasn't helping Lily at all.

Lily laughed, "no," she breathed. "But I'm sure Dave watched the movie during training."

"Bad luck, Dave."

Her stomach now tingling, Lily knew she had to remove herself from his couch before she found herself in a tricky position.

"I should go," she smiled tightly, getting to her feet to remove the DVD.

"Okay," James said, moving after her. "I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah," she said, walking towards the door. "As long as you can recognise me."

"As if I'd forget you, Princess," he winked, making Lily curse herself for flirting with him when she had promised she wouldn't. "Unless, Vanessa is there, of course."

She had just enough time to yelp in outrage before he closed the door cackling.

* * *

Working with James was easy. Working with James whilst trying not to fancy him was not so easy.

"Even with the blue contacts in he looks good," she overheard Mary observe.

"His real eyes are nicer though," Emmeline replied and all the girls in their dressing room agreed.

"You're being awfully quiet, Evans," Marlene cut in, sweeping past Lily's dressing space whilst Lily was unbuttoning her gown.

"I'm not being quiet, I'm trying to get out of this stupid dress so I can go home!" Lily stressed, inwardly knowing that the reason she was dying to go home was so she wouldn't have to hear them talk about James.

"Oh, don't be in such a huff!" Marlene retorted, turning Lily around to do her buttons for her. "No one here actually fancies him. Except you. And Bertha, of course."

"I do not fancy him," Lily replied, despising how childish and ridiculous she sounded. "I agree he has nice eyes, but he's my cast mate and that's all."

"Poor James," Marlene said, giggling along with the rest of the girls, "he'll be devastated to hear that."

"Oh, would you stop?" Lily hissed. "You're just talking nonsense now!"

"You can't see the way he looks at you up on that float, I can!"

"I don't know if you're aware, but being a good actor is one of the requirements to work here. As is keeping your mitts off your fellow employees!"

"Sorry to interrupt what is clearly an important conversation," Dorcas cut in dryly, "but has McGonagall spoken to you all about this Buzzfeed thing?"

"Yes," Mary replied as the rest of the group all echoed her. "It's this Sunday, we're bringing our own costumes but there'll be hair and makeup there."

"And why are we doing this again?"

"More advertising apparently," Mary told her as she hung up her costume. "Buzzfeed are obsessed with the Princesses so they want some shoot to show us all off to their readers."

"Sounds wonderful," Dorcas droned, rolling her eyes. "All I needed was an excuse to spend another day dressed for the alpines."

"Are the guys coming?" Emmeline asked, now styling her own hair.

"Yes, we are," a voice sounded from outset the dressing room as they all jumped, "also, can I come in? I need to speak to Lily."

Eyes widening when she realised it was James, Lily yelled back, "just a minute," as she started to undress quickly. "If he heard what any of you said, I will put fairy dust in all of your wig caps," she hissed quietly, eyeballing them all before pulling on her shorts and t-shirt.

"Drama queen," Marlene shot back, striding to the dressing room door and pulling it open once Lily was dressed. "Enter at your own peril, Potter," she greeted James, "everyone is feeling very _Princessey_ today.

Ignoring Marlene, Lily walked towards James. "What?" She asked very abruptly, seizing up inwardly at her rudeness but she could feel the eyes of the rest of the group on them.

James watched her a bit uncertainly before beginning, "so, one day, I will manage this dance without injuring you," he half-laughed, folding him arms, presumably from her forced coldness.

"It's fine, James," she sighed, not at him, but because of the total silence in the dressing room as they talked.

"Maybe you guys should practice," Emmeline put in cheerfully and Marlene exchanged a grin with her.

Lily shot her a look.

"Actually, that was what I was going to suggest," James replied awkwardly, hand in his hair. "Unless, you have somewhere to be?"

"She has nowhere to be," Marlene smiled, walking back to her own table. "I know because we have big plans to go home and watch Queer Eye at mine."

Knowing that she wasn't getting out of this without a serious amount of effort and really not wanting to offend James anymore than she probably already had, Lily didn't bother to object. And they did need to practice.

"Great," James smiled, still sounding a little uncertain.

Walking towards him, Lily let her hands drift upwards, one to his shoulder and the other into his waiting hand.

"We don't have to…here," he said to her quietly, as his arm came around her waist.

"It's fine," Lily reassured again, giving him a tight smile. At least this way, her cast mates could see there wasn't anything there.

But as he pulled her a little closer and their chests met, Lily felt her heart start to beat rapidly. Did he always hold her this closely?

"You move forward first," she said lowly, stealing herself with the hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," he confirmed, equally quiet.

After a short pause, Lily counted them in, her eyes on their feet.

They managed the first set of four…and then the second. And then the third. But then James stopped.

"You can do it fine in here," she observed, giving him a small smile.

"Well, it's not exactly parade conditions," Dorcas pointed out.

"Would you…" James started, before stopping.

"What?"

"I need you to look at me," he told her with a reluctant smile, "I think I've worked out that's where the problem is."

Lily felt, rather than saw, their audience exchange looks.

"Okay," she agreed after a deep breath. And as she counted them in, she raised her eyes to lock on his.

After two moves, James stood on her left foot.

"Try again," Lily said immediately, not wanting to give anyone a chance to comment.

She counted once more and they moved back, side, forward, side…She raised her eyes to his and immediately, James tripped.

"Shit, sorry," he breathed, eyes and arms dropping away from her as his face coloured red.

"It's okay," Lily said kindly, unable to stop the butterflies swarming in her stomach.

"Evans is known for her amazing eyes," Dorcas interjected pleasantly, "I wouldn't beat yourself up, Potter."

"Then how come it still happens when you've got contacts in?" James asked lightly, quietly enough that only he and Lily could hear. And then he gave her one of those smiles that made her all her limbs feel weak.

"I don't have to look at you," Lily offered as a solution.

James shook his head, "no, we're in love," he replied quickly before realisation crept onto his face and he laughed steadily amongst the titters in the room, "Eric and Ariel are in love," he clarified modestly, not really looking at her. "When you're in love, you look at each other."

Their eyes met again.

"Exactly like that," Marlene cut through and though Lily kept her eyes on James, she could tell her friend was grinning. "You guys are such great actors."

Between that remark and the thudding of her heart, Lily had to move away.

"Maybe we can practice at lunch tomorrow," she suggested, walking away from him.

"Yeah," he agreed, "that sounds good. I won't take up more of your time now."

"Bye James," Emmeline called and Lily heard the dressing room door close over her shoulder.

"Wow, Lil'," Marlene started, "practice at lunchtime tomorrow. What a great way to stop Bertha from getting anywhere near him."

Lily chucked her beauty blender at her.

* * *

As it turned out, Lily did not see James at lunchtime the next day.

She had awoken in the middle of the night with a fever which, at the time she had related to the rather interesting dream he had been having about James. But, by the next morning, she had a permanent lump stuck in her throat, found it hard to swallow and felt weak and cold all over.

After she called in sick to McGonagall, she just about made it to the doctors without fainting. Upon hearing the hoarseness in her voice, it took the doctor all of three minutes to diagnose her with laryngitis.

"I wouldn't be surprised if your voice goes completely," was her final word as Lily traipsed out of the office. "Should be over in two weeks. Plenty of bed rest, lots of water and no talking, okay?"

It occurred to Lily as she made her way home that she probably still could go into work if she wanted. That's what Sirius would do. If she was method, that's what she'd do too.

Unfortunately, her fever and dizziness overtook her before she was able to even progress that thought and Lily was again lucky to make it to her bed in time to pass out for the rest of the day.

When she woke up again on Tuesday night, she found several messages on her phone from Marlene and Dorcas objecting to her sick day and demanding that she return to work tomorrow. Lily let them know she was ill and probably wouldn't be in for the rest of the week before promptly falling asleep again.

It wasn't until Sunday morning, when she had progressed to being able to make herself soup and toast, that Lily was reminded of the Buzzfeed article.

She was busy peering over the toaster wondering when it would pop, when her phone rang.

Answering it before remembering that she couldn't talk, Lily jumped to hear James's voice at the end of the line.

"Hello?" His voice echoed down the telephone, "hello? Lily? I'm not sure if this is a voicemail…"

Lily was contemplating hanging up and sending him a text to explain when James continued to talk.

"Marlene said you were sick…I'm sorry for ringing you when you're not well but…well, we're down at this Buzzfeed thing and McGonagall has assigned Bertha to be Ariel…"

Lily nearly dropped the phone.

"…and well…this is stupid…but it sort of feels like Vanessa is here instead of Ariel. And I remembered what you said about loyalty to my wife so…so I just wanted to say that. And to say it feels weird doing this without you."

She held onto the counter, nearly breathless to hear what he would say next.

"Anyway, if you can get here…I know you're sick so don't if you can't…but if you can, we could do the shoot with the real Ariel. So yeah. That's all I wanted to say. Bye."

By the time the toast had popped, Lily had brushed her hair, teeth and was downstairs waiting on her uber.

* * *

"I thought you were sick!"

Marlene was the first to greet her after she had made it into the photo shoot.

She'd already had to use her phone to type out her issue for the security guard and doorman and so she just handed it to Marlene, note already open.

"You've lost your voice?''

Lily nodded.

"Brilliant!" Marlene laughed, "do you need me to explain forks too?"

Lily glared at her until Marlene relented and took her by the arm.

"They were going to let Bertha do Ariel – of course she was dying to – but now you're here, there's no way they'll go to the bother of changing her from Elsa to Ariel," Marlene chatted as she guided Lily through the studio.

As they walked Lily observed Dorcas and Dirk, arm in arm in the setting of a snowy mountain.

"I'll sort this with McGonagall," Marlene continued as they walked to the make-up and hair area, "you just get ready. They're doing you and James after B&B so you still have a while to go."

Marlene brought her up to a man who was in the middle of styling Mary's hair.

"This is Lily, Fabian," she announced.

"Lily!" Mary greeted, sounding a bit giddy.

"She's Ariel. She's lost her voice," Marlene said loudly, as Fabian and Mary regarded her with amazement.

"Oh my God," Fabian said, his hands falling away from Mary's hair. "Really?"

Lily nodded exaggeratedly, struggling not to roll her eyes.

"You're not contagious are you?" Mary asked uncertainty, after her smile had faded.

"Benjy!" Fabian yelled, saving Lily the trouble of telling Mary she might be but she wasn't going to let an infectious disease stop her from saving Ariel from Bertha. "Get over here!"

A skinny blond man in glasses sauntered over to the group, leaving behind the photographer he had been speaking with.

"Yeah?"

"This is Ariel," Fabian informed him excitedly, clapping Lily on the shoulder.

"Nice to meet you," Benjy said pleasantly, holding out his hand. "I'm Buzzfeed's social editor."

"Ben, she can't answer you."

"Oh yeah?"

"She's lost her voice," Fabian managed, practically buzzing with the news.

Suddenly Benji's whole face changed, from slightly stressed young reporter to the same fevered astounded expression that Fabian was wearing.

"No shit," he breathed, "really?"

Lily nodded.

"You can't talk at all?"

Lily shook her head, feeling more and more sympathy with Ariel with each passing minute.

"Fucking brilliant," Benji celebrated, grabbing her shoulders.

"You should film this," Fabian announced, moving back to Mary and beginning to work on her hair again. "That would be amazing."

"Yes, yes, yes," Benji agreed, "would you mind?"

"You should probably check with McGonagall first," Marlene suggested, pointing at their manager who was giving directions to the photographer whilst Dorcas fanned herself.

"Sure, sure," the journalist noted, not sounding too concerned, "will someone get her into her costume," he called, as he strode back across the room. "I want to do this asap."

Thinking that she might hurry the process along by putting on her own wig, Lily erased the note on her phone and simply typed out 'wig?' before showing it to Marlene.

"What does she want?" Fabian asked absentmindedly.

"She wants to know where her wig is," Marlene answered, causing Fabian to swivel away from Mary again in outrage.

"They make you wear a wig?!"

After Fabian had recovered from realising Lily wasn't allowed to have her natural hair, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

"I'm in charge of the shoot styling, and I say, you're using your own hair."

Not really in a position to argue, Lily had watched as they transformed her hair from a curly, frizzy nightmare to long, flowing and bouncing waves that fell perfectly around her face and over her shoulders. She'd never seen her hair look so good. And sure, it wasn't Ariel's colour, but it was close.

Whilst her hair was being transformed, another stylist had appeared to apply her make up. Lily was used to wearing Ariel's make up but she wasn't used to having it tweaked to suit her own eye colour. It was the smallest of changes to the eyeshadow but suddenly, the make up fit her perfectly. As she watched herself in the mirror, it was as though she was somewhere halfway between herself and her cartoon counterpart.

"You look amazing," Fabian appraised, still playing with the ends of her hair. "I can't wait to see you in the tail."

Not having heard this news before, Lily's whole face lit up – her eyebrows jumping into her hairline.

"She gets the wear the tail?" Dorcas yelped, appearing out of nowhere and into Lily's mirror.

"Of course!" Fabian said, causing Dorcas to clap. "We're doing the scene after Ariel rescues Eric and brings him to the beach. You can't be a mermaid without your tail!"

Finally pleased with her hair, Fabian moved away to Emma with one final squeeze of Lily's shoulders.

"James Potter is about to lose his damn mind," Dorcas whispered into Lily's ear as they both grinned.

With this thought ringing in her ears, Lily made her way to the costume section to look for her tail. Finding Ariel's costume wasn't hard and she found putting on the bra and top part of her tail like slipping into an old pair of pyjamas.

"Ariel! We're ready for you."

Hearing the photographer calling her, Lily managed to signal to Dorcas (now in her civilian clothes) and hand her the fin.

"Here, I'll walk with you," she said, taking Lily's elbow to help her balance.

They moved slowly and steadily towards the main stage and in the distance, Lily saw James, in full costume, lying down on the set, eyes towards the ceiling.

Her heart gave a quick thump.

"You really like him," Dorcas observed quietly, squeezing Lily's arm. "Your whole breathing changed when you saw him," she explained, after Lily gave her a questioning look.

Ignoring that, and not really caring that Dorcas was right, Lily continued to wiggle her way to the set.

"Ariel has arrived," Dorcas announced to the room, shocking Lily and causing all the heads in the room to snap to her.

And just as James lifted his head to see her, suddenly Dorcas was nowhere to be found.

"Wow," she heard him breathe as their eyes met and she saw the look of pure attraction come onto his face.

"She looks good, right Potter?" Dorcas called teasingly, and Lily quickly became aware that not only were they being watched, but Benji was currently filming with a handheld camera.

"I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this," James responded softly, his eyes never moving from hers as the room laughed.

"Oh my god, they're not together, are they?"she heard Benji say to Dorcas.

"Okay, Ariel, if you could just lie down beside Eric," the photographer cut in.

Feeling a little ridiculous as she wobbled over to James, Lily just about managed to get to her knees when James's arms came up to her elbows to steady her. With effort, she placed her body in between his arm and his elbow, head hanging over his.

"Hi," he said lowly to her, in his own sweet tone and Lily could only smile. "Marlene tells me you've lost your voice?"

She nodded earnestly and he smiled in response, causing her to blush when he pushed one side of her hair over her shoulder.

"So…was that you on the phone earlier or...?"

Again, Lily nodded.

"Right," James coughed, "sorry for calling. I just…"

Managing to interrupt him by shaking her head, Lily gave his forearm a quick squeeze.

"Anna, can you attach her tail?" The photographer asked Dorcas.

"I'm on it!"

"Right, so everyone knows the scene. Eric is passed out, Ariel, you've just saved him from death. He's the most beautiful human you've ever seen and this is where you decide you'll do whatever it takes to be with him."

Lily nodded to acknowledge she'd heard as she held up her feet for Dorcas.

"Just smile, play with his hair…you know – the usual."

With one final look, James let his head fall backwards and his eyes close.

"Music!" The photographer called and Lily heard the refrain of 'Part of Your World' sweep around the room.

Deciding that the only way to do this without her heart beating out of her chest was to be completely method, Lily did her best to pretend that no one else was in the room as her hands moved to James's hair. The quirk of the left side of his mouth was the only sign on James's face that she had touched him.

Smiling down at him, Lily flipped her tail and moved her fingers down past his eyebrow, over his cheekbone and down to his jaw, suppressing a full grin when James inhaled deeply.

In the distance, she could hear the sound of the camera clicking furiously.

"Okay, Eric, we're going to try a few with you awake, so open your eyes."

Lily's breathing skipped when her eyes met James's hazel ones and she almost forgot she was supposed to be acting.

"Heh," the odd sound he made before swallowing thickly.

Lily looked at him quizzically.

"I've just remembered how we get your voice back," he explained, eyes pouring into hers as the music swelled and his hand drifted into her hair.

She probably should have stopped him, given that they were surrounded by all of their work colleagues, but with absolutely no desire to, Lily's eyes fluttered closed as their lips met.

He kissed her tenderly and so softly that Lily, wanting more of him, pressed herself down against him as James's left arm encircled her waist. She revelled in the feeling of his lips against hers, her hair falling down around them and shading them from the eyes of the rest of the room.

It was only after silence rang out around them as the music stopped that they broke apart, eyes meeting each other again. Lily couldn't help the small smile that crept onto her face when she saw the look James was giving her.

He had just swept her hair behind her ear, when a loud wolf-whistle echoed around the set.

"Well, did it work?" Marlene shrieked, removing her hands from her mouth.

With a quick glance at James, Lily tried to speak…and what came out was a garbled, hoarse cough and the most horrid sound she had ever made.

The entire room exploded in laughter, except for James who was still smiling up at her.

"Oh well," he said quietly, nudging her nose with his, "guess we'll just have to keep trying."

And then Lily remembered that McGonagall was in the room. And oh fuck, James had just kissed her in front of her boss.

Gesturing for someone to come and take the tail and help her up, Lily tried to look everywhere but James whilst also avoiding McGonagall as well.

"I got you," she heard Marlene say from behind her and soon after her feet were free. "Dressing room?" She asked urgently, as she helped Lily to her feet. "That was the hottest fucking kiss I have ever seen," Marlene told her quietly, as they stumbled towards the back.

Lily had so many questions running through her head – mainly did McGonagall look like she was going to eat them alive – that she wasn't able to focus on how great the kiss had been.

When they reached the backstage area, she lowered herself into her seat and tried not to panic.

"Look, don't freak out," Marlene reassured her, catching sight of Lily's expression, "you can say you were just acting."

Lily was about to respond when she saw James coming after them, jogging lightly.

"On a scale of one to ten, how stupid was that?" He asked, seemingly directing the query at Marlene but looking at Lily.

"Probably a ten," Marlene answered.

"Can I have a minute to chat with Lily, please?"

"Nope, you'll need me to translate."

Lily squeezed her arm and Marlene sighed.

"Okay, fine, but I want all the details later, you hear?"

As Marlene left, Lily felt her heart start to beat rapidly again. Fuck, she liked this boy way too much. Enough that she was endangering her job just to kiss him.

"Okay, it kind of sucks that you can't talk," James started, pulling a seat around to face her, "because I can't tell if you're mad or not. Are you?"

Not able to stop a smile appearing at his nervous bashfulness, Lily shook her head.

"Good," he breathed, breaking out into a grin, "because I've been thinking about kissing you for three weeks and I really want to do it again."

Feeling the butterflies swooping around her stomach, Lily's smile widened.

"I checked the staff rules a couple of weeks ago" James continued, letting his hand come out to fall onto hers, "and apparently, I can't ask you out."

Again, Lily nodded.

"So, basically what I wanted to check was if it would be coming on too strong to quit and then ask you out?"

"Yes, it would be, Potter," a voice said as they both jumped. "I would have at least suggested starting some form of clandestine relationship before resorting to quitting," Minerva said, glaring down at them both, "or I would have before you kissed Evans in front of the entire cast."

"Eh, yeah, sorry about that…"

"And stop looking so worried, Evans," she continued briskly, "no one is going to quit."

"What?" James asked, his hand still firm on top of hers.

"The rule about dating was put in place after the Dave debacle," McGonagall explained, "to deter similar behaviour and to prevent us losing half the cast. We're not going to fire either of you for dating each other. Particularly, when you've been driving the entire Park insane with your ridiculous flirting."

"We weren't that ridiculous," James said quietly, looking a bit peeved.

"I'm also assured by Benji that the footage of you both this afternoon is certain to go 'totally viral' – it would be illogical for Disney to fire it's two most popular cast mates."

"Right," he noted, his eyes meeting Lily's. "Does that mean we can kiss in the Park?"

"Not a chance, Potter," Minerva replied, "you'll have to help Evans get her voice back on your own time." And with that, and a wink, she swept away, back towards the set where Jasmine was scolding Aladdin.

"Worth a shot," James grinned, standing up. Eyes dancing, he leant forward and pressed a quick but meaningful kiss to her lips. "Well that seems to be that sorted," he said against her lips, pulling back a little to let his forehead fall against hers, "so, what do you think, Evans? Go out with me?"

Still reeling from the surprise kiss, and with her hand clasping his, Lily smiled up at him.

"Yes."


End file.
